


Choices

by mrsseizetheday



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsseizetheday/pseuds/mrsseizetheday
Summary: You arrived with Charlie at the battle of Hogwarts just to witness Fred being crushed by the wall. You helped him while Charlie is searching for your sister Nymphodora Tonks, just to tell you that she didn’t make it. So it was your choice: staying in Britain and helping raise your sisters kid or going back to Romania to follow your dream.
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	Choices

It had taken a while for you to arrive at Hogwarts. You had to take a detour, but you had finally managed it. You were travelling with Charlie Weasley – a friend you had made at the Dragon reservoir in Romania. When you got the message that the battle was starting NOW and your sister would participate you quickly walked to Charlie. You had talked about it before, but you hadn’t realized that you would have to leave so soon. 

„Charlie, is that your family?“ you asked when you saw three people who had the same hair colour as him. 

„Yeah, the twins and Percy,“ he said with relieve in his voice and started to make his way over. 

You followed him and before you could reach them a curse hit the wall behind them. Charlie and you sent both a stupor in the direction of the attacker. 

„Fred,“ you heard the brother with glasses scream. He was busy shoving the brick pieces away. 

„Can you do something?“ Charlie asked you when you arrived and you kneeled next to the person on the floor, who seemed to be Fred. The pulse was there – barely, but it was there. 

„I can’t promise anything. He’s no dragon. And I need to do it now, we can’t move him. I need protection,“ you said. 

„Please try,“ another voice said and belonged to someone who looked exactly like the person in front of you. 

„Okay, I put both of our lives into your hands.“ 

„Do you know where Mum and Dad are? Ginny? Ron? Bill?“ Charlie asked, but didn’t get the answer he hoped for. „I’ll search for them. I’ll look out for Tonks too,“ he squeezed your shoulders saying his thanks and telling you silently he’d look out for your sister just like you did for his brother. 

„Can you help me to remove the last stones?“ you asked and Percy helped you while George stood guard and then you zooned out. You had managed to come up with a new technique for dragons who had problems with breathing when they came into the world. In the reservoir you tried to protect the species who were a dying breed. So you tried to do everything that there would be more of them and you had to get creative. 

You had managed to get into the system of the dragons, feeling for the organs and trying to form them to make living for the dragons easier. So it was no lie when you told Charlie that were worried because his brother was no dragon. His body was different, but you hoped it wouldn’t matter. You sat down next to Fred, put your hands on his chest and let your mind wander. 

You started with his lungs, which were the first target as the bricks had fallen down his torso. When you managed to form them again you moved to the airways. It was difficult and strength-draining. You couldn’t rush in fear that his body wouldn’t mend or wouldn’t accept the sudden change. 

„We can move him now, but I’m not done. I’d rather one of you would levitate him and I’d do the protecting, my stunning spells are rather powerful.“ They agreed and told you that you’d move to the great hall. It has been some time since you’ve been in Hogwarts so George led the way. 

It did take a while for you to arrive but you figured it would still be better healing one twin there than in an open hallway where you were an easy target. 

„Have you seen my sister? Tonks?“ You asked when you arrived at the Great Hall. 

„Haven’t seen her or Remus for awhile,“ George said. You nodded and looked to the right, where a young boy was laying motionless on the floor. He was really young and your stomach turned. You quickly looked away, you needed to focus on Fred. When Percy laid him down on the floor as you asked him to, you took your seat next to him again and turned everything else out. 

It took long. Charlie was a really good friend of you. You met in Hogwarts and when you heard how much he loved it in Romania you decided you wanted to go there too. And so you started a friendship there and you didn’t want to tell him, that you tried but failed to heal his brother or that he’d suffer because you hadn’t given it all. 

Suddenly you felt something flicker under your hands. Surprised you took your hands back afraid you’d done some damage. But then you realised that Fred had opened his eyes. 

„How are you feeling?“ someone asked him. You quickly looked around you and noticed a lot of red heads around you. 

„Like I’ve been hit by a wall,“ a dry voice replied and after a second in silence the first one began to chuckle. 

„Do you have trouble breathing?“ you asked and felt relieve when he said he didn’t. You quickly learned that the battle was already over and that you’ve won. 

„Where is Tonks?“ you asked and stood up, but the healing took a lot of your strength and your legs were stiff from sitting so long. Strong arms steadied you, arms which bore a lot of scars and burns just like yours. „Charlie, where is my sister?“ you asked again. 

„I’m so sorry,“ he said. When you had thought about the battle you hadn’t thought one second that your sister wouldn’t make it. Not once! Because your sister was a fighter and a damn good auror. 

„Her husband?“ you asked and he shook his head. 

„Your family?“ was your next question. 

„They’re all okay. Harry and Hermione also,“ his familiar voice answered. 

„Okay, that’s great,“ you said with a monotonous voice. You were really glad but you felt kind of numb, because all you could think about was that your nephew didn’t have his parents anymore. How could you tell your parents, that your sister wasn’t there anymore? You asked if you could see them and Charlie pointed to the place where two people lay holding hands. 

You didn’t recognise your sister immediately. When you thought about her there was always a great energy surrounding her, her hair a bubbly colour and a smile on her face. The person in front of you didn’t look like that at all. And so it took a while before you broke down and took her hand into yours. 

„You were her sister, right?“ someone asked behind you. You nodded. 

„You’re Harry,“ you said when you looked at him. „You’re the godfather of Teddy.“ It was his turn to nod. He sat down next to you without saying anything. You suddenly felt the need to hug him. When you told him that you wanted to, he let you and put his hands behind your back. 

And suddenly you felt so tired you couldn’t even form a word. Exhaustion took over your body and you didn’t notice the panic you caused Harry when you fell limp in your arm.

-x-

You woke up when you felt someone poking your side. You slowly opened your eyes. „Charlie?“ you asked when you just saw some red hair.

„No, its George.“ You opened and closed your eyes until everything focused. „I’m really sorry, but Fred has trouble with breathing. Can you take a look at him?“ 

You nodded, feeling a headache and your eyes felt swollen. „Where am I?“ you asked when you took in your surroundings. 

„You’re at the burrow, our home. You passed out, so we took you home with us. Most of us camped in the living room, but we gave you Charlie and Bills old room. Can you come downstairs with me, please?" 

"Sure, I’m sorry. I’m not a morning person, I need my time after waking up.“ 

„Technically its still night,“ he said sheepishly. 

„Lead the way,“ you said when you finally stood in the room. You followed George steps after steps until you reached a room crowded with people. Mattresses were all over the floor and people were sitting by each other. 

They made room for you so you could sit down next to Fred. „Charlie, can you get me some water?“ you asked when you noticed him near you. You introduced yourself to Fred and asked him where it hurt. 

„It’s not really hurting it’s just difficult to breathe. I would have let you sleep, but the all keep fussing around me.“ He admitted. 

„Okay, I’m going to put my hands on your chest and then I want you to breath slowly in and out, so I can take a look what’s wrong. If there is something wrong or when you feel pain I need you to grab my hand or arm, I won’t hear anything, okay?“ 

„If this was just an excuse to touch me..“, he started and you chuckled. You thanked Charlie for the water when he handed you a glass and get back to work. 

You closed your eyes and concentrated on the body in front of you. You quickly found what caused the trouble. A dent in the air way made it difficult for him and you formed it back the way it used to be. 

„Is everything okay so far?“ you asked when you didn’t notice anything else. 

„Yes, thank you,“ Fred smiled at you. 

„I need to go to Mum and Dad,“ you said then, but Charlies hand stopped you. 

„You need to eat something first, you’re exhausted. You won’t make it. We already messaged your parents. Come eat something and I’ll bring you there.“ 

And so it came that you sat in the Weasley kitchen with Harry next to you, Ginny on his other side and Charlie next to you with Mrs. Weasley in front of you. You supposed the food was good, but you didn’t really taste anything. You were anxious to get home to your parents and Teddy. So you left pretty quickly and you promised to see Harry the next day with Teddy.

-x-

You had decided to stay in Britain and to give up your job in Romania. It broke your heart a bit to leave that behind, but it would have broken your heart more when you would have left your family and Teddy.

Your Mum wasn’t the youngest anymore, more a grandma than a mother and you weren’t ready to take care of a baby on your own. This wasn’t what you had imagined your life. And Harry needed to get his life together first and start to think about what he’d want. 

Currently Teddy stayed with you in your apartment and you were at a loss. When Tonks had written to you that she was expecting, you thought it was kind of funny to send a little plush wolf. What you didn’t expect was that Teddy would become obsessed with it. And now you had lost it and the baby wouldn’t stop crying. You rocked him in your arm while searching for the plushie. 

A loud noise was heard behind you and you turned around to see Fred in your apartment. The baby in your arms was still crying and you must have looked helpless as Fred walked directly towards you and took the baby out of your arms. Immediately the crying stopped. 

“How did you do that?” you asked. 

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the habit.” he shrugged. 

“Do you have kids?” 

He laughed. “No, but many siblings.” He cooed at the baby and when you looked past him you saw the wolf right before your couch. You quickly grabbed it and pushed it into Teddys hands who giggled happily. “You missed our meeting, so I wanted to check on you.” 

“I’m sorry. We fell asleep and then he was crying and crying and he threw up and I’m still full of vomit I realise now.” You picked at your shirt. “Could you maybe watch him for me? I’ll be quick with a shower?” 

He laughed and told you that it would be fine and you could take your time. You really enjoyed your shower, but you went still quickly to your room to change. You walked back to the living room and smiled when you saw Fred who was playing with Teddy. You grabbed the bag you had already packed. 

“Okay, we can go, but I’m afraid we have to use the floo powder. I learned the hard way that Teddy doesn’t like to apparate.” 

When you arrived at the burrow Mrs. Weasley welcomed you. “We were afraid something had happened, dear,” she said. 

“I’m sorry, but Teddy was fussing and throwing up.” She patted your arm in understanding. 

“We still have some time before we’ll eat. You want to check up on Fred first?” she offered. She took Teddy in her arms and you walked with Fred to his old room. 

“So, any complains?” you asked and went to work. You didn’t really need to blend everything out it was just formal for you to check him over. 

“Just one,” he admitted. “With my heart.” 

“What?” you asked shocked and moved your hands towards the place where his heart laid. 

“Yeah, it’s beating awfully fast whenever you’re near me,” he smirked at you. 

“Fred Weasley, I can’t believe you. I was really worried I messed something up.” You crossed your arms and left the room. 

“Everything okay?” George asked when he saw you storming into the kitchen. 

“Your brother is an insufferable flirt who doesn’t seem to understand when he needs to be serious.” 

“That means at least he’s himself,” George smiled at you. You walked over to Harry who had Teddy in his arms. 

“I have to show you something,” you smiled at the younger boy who you’d spend much time with as he wanted to see Teddy often. You grabbed the little picture book out of your bag. “Hey Teddy, you see the elephant?” You asked and pointed at the picture of the grey animal. “He has a cute little trunk, hasn’t he?” His little hands grabbed at the book and when his finger touched the picture and followed the outline of the trunk his nose started to form and he soon had a little trunk himself. 

Harry and George laughed and Teddy was glad someone was laughing and let out little hooting noises which made the other ones laugh louder. Although this wasn’t what you had wanted in life you weren’t sad. Although you couldn’t take care of the dragons anymore you were taking care of another human being and you had help from a lot of wonderful people.

-x-

Charlie sends you letters with pictures of the dragons, telling you how they were doing and in return you sent him pictures of Teddy. And Charlie was surprised that in almost every photo was a Weasley or Harry.

You were invited to the reopening of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes and your mum insisted that Teddy stayed with her and you made yourself a nice day. While others couldn’t wait for the shop to open up again you were curious what it looked like as you’ve never visited it. 

You had to admit that you were surprised how many people were in front and obvious in the shop. So you decided you’d wait a little bit before you’d visit the twins. After eating ice cream you finally entered the shop and lost your voice for a moment. There was so much going on that you couldn’t decided where to look first. 

“Hey do you know how much the Puking Pastilles are?” A young guy asked you and hold up one in his hands. Just behind him there was the price written so you answered him and he walked happily away. 

“Already helping, love?” a voice you had heard quiet often asked. “Come, I want to show you something.” He grabbed your arm before you could do anything against it. “They are brand new, I hope you like them.” 

He stopped in front of a cage and you had to look twice to make sure your eye wasn’t playing tricks on you. “Are these dragons?” Your voice was getting higher near the end of the sentence. 

“Yes, it took a while. Here, hold one,” he opened the cage and quickly grabbed one of the three little dragons and placed it into your hand. 

“Is this an Antipodean Opaleye?” you starred fascinated at the miniature dragon in your hand. 

“They are your favourite, right?” Fred asked. 

“Yeah,” you breathed. And then you realized that you had a dragon in your hand. “Why am I holding a dragon, Fred? They need special care,” you wanted to say more, but he interrupted you. 

“Calm down, these aren’t real dragons. They just look like them. Imagine them as puppets who move around. They don’t need food or anything. We invented them and I promise you there were no dragons harmed.” 

You calmed down a bit and watched as the dragon started to walk on your arm. “It’s beautiful.” 

“It’s yours.” 

You wanted to protest, but then George appeared at your side. “Just take it, we want you to have it. You don’t want to waste Fred’s work, right? He lost a few nights sleep over this.” 

“At least let me pay for it,” you said and took the dragon in your hand again. 

“No way, see it as some payback for giving me back my brother. I couldn’t even imagine how I should have done all the work without him.” George said and gave you a half hug before he disappeared to help some customers. 

“You’re already doing so much. All the meals at the burrow and the meals Molly gives me for home, you looking after Teddy.” 

“We want to, just accept it,” Fred hugged you shortly. 

“I’m going to take a look around. But I’m going to pay for whatever I want to take with me.” you smiled at him. 

“Call if you need help,” Fred winked and disappeared also.

-x-

Teddys first words were spoken on his first birthday. You were celebrating with your parents and the Weasleys at the burrow as it provided the most space. He was currently in Harrys lap who told you all about his training as an auror. You almost felt like old times when your sister told you she started her training.

Teddy wanted attention, but Harry didn’t notice it at first. “Mum!” Silence filled the room. And then Teddy began to cry. “Mum,” he cried again. You were shocked and not quite sure, if he meant you or your mother Andromeda. When Teddy cried harder and put his hands toward you and you still didn’t move – because you were not his mother, his mother was your sister, who was dead and how were you supposed to tell this little kid this? – Fred put his hand on your shoulder. 

“He wants you, love,” his suddenly soft voice was in your ear. 

“I’m not his mother,” you said slowly and quietly. 

“How is he supposed to know that? You’re by his side almost all the time,” you mum said. And Harry was standing in front of you holding the crying baby so you could take him if you’d reach out. 

When you finally did and Teddy was secured in your arms, he slowly stopped crying. He put his hands up to your face and pulled at your lip while he giggled and the word ‘Mum’ left his mouth multiple times. Tears gathered in your eyes but you refused to let them fall. Freds hand was still on your shoulder, his thumb rubbing circles onto your skin. Harry was looking at you, as were the rest. 

“We’ll explain that he has two mothers in time.” Your mom offered and then you started crying. You pressed the little body into you and started crying. Teddy started crying again and your mother took him from you. 

“I’m so mad at Tonks. Why did she walk into the battle and left us with this mess. How are we supposed to tell this little innocent human that his mother isn’t with us anymore? How are we going to explain this mess? That he thinks his aunt is his mother? That his godfather is barely legal himself? That I’m a horrible person because I’m mad at my dead sister because I had to leave my dream behind? I don’t know what to do with myself. I never wanted this, but I wouldn’t treat him for the world. He’s everything to me and I’d protect him always.” 

“Don’t you think Tonks and Lupin would be glad that you’re taking such good care of him that he thinks of you as his mother? We’ll figure something out. Maybe you can help out in the shop for a few hours if that’s what you want,” Fred offered. 

“No one is angry at you. We’re all adapting and it’s obvious that Teddy needs you. I think you need him too,” Harry offered you his arms.

-x-

“What are you doing Friday night?” Fred asked on one of his many visits.

“The usual?” you said while you put away the dishes from dinner while Fred wiped the table clean. 

“Lets go out. I know for a fact that you used to visit the pub in Romania frequently,” he said. “We can ask the others or it could be just the two of us, whatever you prefer,” he said almost sheepishly. 

“Thats because there was nothing to do there BUT to go to the pub. We were in the middle of nowhere. And if I didn’t know you better, I would say you were too afraid to ask me out on a date,” you laughed not really thinking what you had said out loud. 

“What if I was?” he asked and stopped with the cloth in his hand. 

“Yeah, right,” you were still smiling until you turned around and looked at his face and were surprised to see that he wasn’t joking. “Are you serious? Fred, I know you did all the things because I kind of saved your life, but I want you to know that you owe me nothing. I’m glad and I appreciate everything you and your family have done for me, but you don’t need to.” 

You already felt like a burden. 

“We do this because we want to. I’m here all the time because I like to spend time with you. I _want_ to take you out on a date. I guess you kind of touched my heart in more than one way when you put me back together,” he said and looked you in the eyes. 

“I’m older than you,” you said. 

“So?” he asked. 

“I don’t come alone, I kind of have a kid,” you went on. 

“Does it seem like this bothers me? I like him and he likes me, I come from a big family.” 

“I don’t want more kids.” 

“Don’t you think I know that? Would you just go on a date with me? We don’t have to plan a future now. Just go on a date with me. Maybe it’ll be great and if not we can go back to just how it has been. We’ve got nothing to lose,” he said and grabbed your hand. 

“Okay, but I have to find someone who will look after Teddy,” you said. 

“Oh don’t worry. George already said he’d take him,” Fred smiled brightly at you. 

“Got it all planned, huh?” you asked. 

“Sure, I have for a while now, love,” he smiled brightly at you.

-x-

The date went well, and after that first one there came a second and a third. It wasn’t easy with a little kid around, but Fred made it easier and of course the rest of the family. It wasn’t always fancy what you did, most of the time you fell asleep on the couch because you were exhausted. Fred was around so often, that most of his clothes were at your place than at his own flat. So, George asked him one day why he didn’t pack all of his stuff so he could use the extra room.

Teddy grew up with so much love. You’d tell him stories about you and your sister growing up, Harry would tell stories about his dad and you made sure that he knew where he came from. 

It took a while for you to find something else you wanted to do besides dragons. And your heart grew heavy when you looked over at the little dragon Fred had gifted you, who was sitting on your night table. George had confided in you, that Fred had just come with the idea of it to impress you. When your eyes shifted, they found a picture of Teddy in a dragon costume, which Charlie had gifted him, and you knew that you had made the right decision when you turned around and cuddled more with Fred.


End file.
